Guard for banjos



(No Model.)

W. E. COLLINS.

GUARD FOR BANJQS.

Patented 001;. 4, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

IVILLIAM E. COLLINS, OF BETHEL, CONNECTICUT.

GUARD FOR BANJOSe SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 483,683, dated October 4, 1892.

Application filed May 31, 1892.

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, WILLIAM E. CoLLINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bethel, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Guards for Banjos; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. Y My invention has for its object to produce a guard for the backs of banjos which will effectually protect the clothing of a performer from the constant abrasion and wearing action of the nuts Which tighten the head and other angular parts of the instrument.

It has been a serious objection to the use of this instrument that it was very destructive to the clothing of performers, both the coats and trousers of gentlemen and the Waists and dress-skirts of ladies being quickly ruined by practicing on the banjo. In order to overcome this objection and render the use of aprons, the., wholly unnecessary, I have devised a simple and novel guard Which may be readily attached to any banjo and which I will now describe, referring by numbers to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specication, in which Figure l is an inverted plan view of the head of an ordinary banjo; Fig. 2, a View of one of the guards detached; Fig. 3,a crosssection on the line o: rc in Fig. l, showing a guard in place; and Fig. 4 is a view of one of the attaching-screws of the guard detached.

1 denotes the staff; 2, the holding-ring; 3, the head; 4, the Wire about which the outer edge of the head is Wrapped; 5, the tightening-ring; 6, tightening-bolts having hooked ends which engage the tightening-ring; 7, lugs through which the bolts pass, and 8 the tighteningnuts. These parts may all be ot' ordinary or any preferred construction.

Serial No. 434,898. (No model.)

A denotes my novel guard. I preferably use two on each banjo, and thereby fully protect the clothing of the performer, as nothing but the guards come in contact therewith. The guard consists, preferably, of a round smooth strip of metal denoted by 9, which is curved to conform with the curvature of the banjo and lies outside of the holding-ring and tightening-screws, as clearly shown in Fig. l. This strip is provided With two or more radially-extending arms lO, said arms being provided with lugs l1, adapted to lie on opposite sides of the holding-ring of the banjo. The inner lug of each pair is provided with a set-screw 12, having a loose and preferably padded head 13. The guards are attached in place by simply placing lugs 11 on opposite sides of the ho1ding-ring of the banjo and tightening up the set-screws The padded heads engage the inner side of the holding-ring and prevent it from being marred in the slightest by tightening up of the screws.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- A detachable guard for banjos, consisting of a smooth strip of metal having radiallyextending arms, each arm having a pair of lugs adapted to lie on opposite sides of the holding-ring of a banjo, the inner arm of each pair having a set-screW provided With a loose head which is adapted to be turned up against the inner side of the holding-Iing to lock the guard in place.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

X/ILLIAMI E. COLLINS.

IVitnesses:

WILLIAM H. JUDsoN, HOWARD H. WOODMAN. 

